NORTHPORT (M) Bhd bagged The Best Container Terminal Award (Asia) at the Asian Freight and Supply Chain Awards 2009 held in Hong Kong recently.
Northport, a multi-purpose terminal, was selected for the award from a list which included other top container terminals in Asia.
The selection was based on a list of criteria, which included crane productivity, timely and adequate investment in new terminal infrastructure to meet future demand, effective use of information technology and efficient turn-around of trucks delivering and picking up containers.
Northport, which handled three million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last year, offers one of the widest shipping connectivity among ports in Malaysia with about 123 container shipping lines linking it to some 300 ports worldwide.
Managing director Datuk Basheer Hassan Abdul Kader said in a statement that Northport was committed to maintaining high performance and productivity because leading shipping lines that called at the port required standards comparable with other major global ports to which they were linked.
Last year, 81 shipping lines as well as 44 conventional and 502 container vessels made about 8,000 ship calls at Northport.
On the impact on the global economic downturn, Basheer said container cargo through Northport dropped 15% (year-on-year) in the first quarter of this year.
Northport is one of the major hubs in Malaysia for exporting cargos and this moderate decrease was within expectation.
Source: http://thestar.com.my/maritime/story.asp?file=/2009/5/11/maritime/3869211&sec=maritime, 11 May 2009
